Computer accessory device-USB sharer

ABSTRACT

A computer accessory device—USB share is comprised of a multiplexer, which is connected to a computer host; a human interface device (HID) chip, which is connected to one output end of the multiplexer; a device output end, which is connected to another output end of the multiplexer; and a busyness detection module, which is connected to the middle of the HID chip and the device output end. The USB sharer may reach a sharing function of “N to I” by applying N−1 sets of “2 to 1” sharer. Wherein, at least one “2 to 1” sharer&#39;s output end is connected to the device output end and, for other N−2 sets of “2 to 1” sharer, of which at least one output end is connected to the input end of another “2 to 1” sharers.

1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a connection device belonging to the computeraccessory apparatus and, particularly to a USB sharer of the computeraccessory apparatus.

2. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Computer applies web connection that includes hardware and software toreach the objective of resource share, for example, the accessory deviceof computer hard disc data and printer, etc., which have already beenthe popular solutions in today's technology but, for the user ofnon-enterprise, especially for the common home computer, the web deviceis very expansive. Even for a small venture exclusively with its owninvestment or offices, the users can not afford the construction of anentire web. Because of insufficient budget, this sort of customer isvery desired for the common computer devices.

Taking the printer—the most popular computer accessory device as anexample, it is scarce for every computer belonging to each user to bematched with a printer respectively, so the requirement for commondevice is very important in consideration of economic effectiveness.Therefore, how to supply more economic and fast accessory devices thatcan be used commonly has already become a problem to be solved anxiouslyby current market and industry.

The prior technique may manipulate a printer's input/output switch byhand and since its operation is manual, so it is very inconvenient. Itis more convenient to apply the software in the user's host forswitching the printer. However, the internal elements of this kind ofswitching device are very tedious. It must use more pieces ofcontrolling chips to reach the purpose of control. Taking a “2 to 1”switch as example, at least two universal serial buses (USBs) must beapplied, the controlling software programs are very complicated, and itsprice is also much more expansive.

Please refer to FIG. 1, which is a system illustration taking a “2 to 1”device according to the prior arts as an example. The hosts AP0 and AP1of the user side, through the output ports of the terminal of auniversal serial bus (USB), may be connected to a sharer 11, which ispassed and transferred by a multiplexer 15 to make the host AP1 of theconnection side connected to a universal serial bus-hub 12 (USB-HUB),wherein the hub itself has a controlling IC, under which is connected toa USB controlling chip 13 and a USB output end 16 and, through a deviceconnection port 17, a further connection is made to an external USBaccessory device, such as the devices of printer, digital camera, etc.(not shown in the figure), while the host AP0 of non-connecting side isthen connected to a USB controlling chip 14.

Above device output end 16 may be randomly connected to the external USBdevice, such as: printer, mouse, or scanner, etc. However, the USBcontrolling chip must be installed at the computer side and controlledunder both the relative driving program defined by the USB controllingchip and the software responsible for switching, so the switchinginstruction may be directly transferred through the USB controlling chipfrom the AP0 or AP0 host of the user side to order the multiplexer toswitch the computer of the connection side, for example, switching theoriginal host AP1 to the host AP0.

Above sharer 11 of “2 to 1” type applies two USB controlling chips andone hub IC and, similarly, a “3 to 1” sharer needs three USB controllingchips and one hub IC and, in the same way, a “N to 1” sharer has to useN pieces of USB controlling chips and one hub IC. Besides the appliedparts are more, its controlling software is also more complicated, andit has a restriction caused by the specifications, such as USB 1.1 beingunable to be compatible with USB 2.0.

Besides above shortcomings, the prior sharer also has certain popularproblems. For example, when a switching instruction is executed, theoriginal host of the connection end—such as AP1 using the accessorydevice must be ordered to be off line, then the host AP0 of theconnection end may make a connection order, such that a great risk iscreated for the user. For example, if the user shuts off the host AP1that is still on line with a printer, then it is impossible for anotheruser of the host AP0 to use the printer commonly, and the user of thehost AP0 must restart the host AP1 to make an order of cutting off, suchthat he can make an on line order from the host AP0. This procedure ismore inconvenient than the switching function made by hand.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In order to overcome the shortcomings of the traditional sharers, theobjective of the invention is to propose a simpler method and systemdevice to further control the sharer more conveniently with more preciseelements. The method and device proposed by the invention applies fewerelements to reach a better effectiveness than that of the prior device.

Another objective of the invention is to replace the USB hub and the USBcontrolling chip with a HID controlling chip such that, by using astandard and easily developing software, the invention won't becontrolled by the restriction of any inspection, so it has a betteradvantage of cheap cost.

Further objective of the invention is that, when a switching order isexecuted, the originally on-line host does not need to make an order ofoff line, instead the following host of the connection end may directlymake an order of on line to use the common devices.

A further another objective of the invention is that, through thebusyness detection circuit, when the system is at a very busy state, itmay switch the using authority of the accessory device at any timewithout using any kind of hub IC, instead a multiplexer is used todirectly distribute the line path to the device output end conveniently.

A further another objective of the invention is to apply a HID chip,such that the user of the host of the connection side may directly orderthe HID through keyboard or mouse. Through the busyness detection madeby the HID, the HID then orders the multiplexer to switch, such that atrouble of making a reorder to cut off the line path from the originalhost may be skipped.

A further objective of the invention is to apply three sets of “2 to 1”sharer to achieve a “4 to 1” sharer, wherein the structural output endsof two sets of “2 to 1” sharer are connected to another “2 to 1” sharerfor comprising a “4 to 1” sharer.

Another objective of the invention is to apply the structural outputends of two sets of “4 to 1” sharer to one “2 to 1” sharer forcomprising a “8 to 1” sharer, and et cetera.

Another objective of the invention is to apply three colors of red,yellow, and green to represent different “on line” situations on thescreen of the host, such that it may clearly tell the user the currentsituation of the host, so the use may operates under a more friendlyatmosphere.

For further deeply describing the invention, a detailed descriptiontogether with corresponding drawings is presented as follows. Hope thosewill facilitate your esteemed members of reviewing committee forreviewing this invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a systematic illustration for the “2 to 1” sharer according tothe prior arts.

FIG. 2 is a structural illustration for the system of a “2 to 1” shareraccording to the invention.

FIG. 3 is a connection illustration for the circuit of a “2 to I” shareraccording to the invention.

FIG. 4 is an illustration for the switching relationship between amultiplexer and a SEL side according to the invention.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart for the HID chip according to the invention tocontrol the switching software.

FIG. 6 is a connection illustration for the line paths of the “4 to 1”sharer according to the invention.

FIG. 7 is an executing illustration for the busyness detection inventionaccording to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

For your esteemed members of reviewing committee to further understandthe invention, several attached drawings, detailed structure of theinvention, and its connection relationship are presented as follows.

Please refer to FIG. 2, which is a system structural illustrationaccording to the invention, wherein a “2 to 1” sharer 21 is taken as anexample. The host AP1 of the connection side, through a multiplexer 22,is directly connected to a USB device output end 16, and itsnon-connection side is connected to a human interface device 23 (HID),through which a switching order is made to the multiplexer 22. Abusyness detection circuit 24 that is a comparative line path module isconnected to the device output end 16 for detecting whether the linepath is under a busy state.

When the host AP0 is going to execute a switching order, according tothe signal transferred from the busyness detection circuit 24, whetherthe system is busy or not is judged. If the system is busy, then itmeans that other host is using the computer accessory device then,through the connection line 231 of the HID, a signal is transferred tothe host to tell the device being busy. If the device is idle, then theHID makes an order to the multiplexer 22 for executing the switchingaction.

In the system of above sharer 21, since the connected host AP1 of theconnection side is not connected to the HID controlling chip, so it isunnecessary to make an off-line order, neither does make a on-line order(because it has already been under an on-line state). At this time, thecontrolling authority to make a connection order is belonged to theoff-line host AP0 that is connected to the HID. Through the busynessdetection circuit 24, when the device is at idle state, it may alwaysswitch the usage authority of the accessory device.

Applying this system structure, it is unnecessary to apply any hub IC.The multiplexer will directly distribute the line path to the deviceoutput end 16. Not only is the cost of the element saved, but also isthe connection more efficient and more convenient. Applying the HID chip23, a user may use the keyboard or the mouse of the host of theconnection side to directly make a switching order to the HID, throughwhich a busy state is checked, and the HID again make an order to themultiplexer to switch, so the trouble of making an off-line order fromthe original host is skipped. At the same time, since only one HID chip23 belonging to one standard is used and its interior is also adoptedwith the standard HID class and the operation system supporting the USBall supplies the driving program with standard HID class so, as long asthe externally attached USB device is qualified to the HID class, itthen can use the driving programs supplied by the operation systemwithout any additional driving program. The application of the standarddriving program not only can avoid the difficulties on design, but alsocan enhance the stability of the system.

Please refer to FIG. 3, which is an illustration for the circuitconnection for the “2 to 1” sharer according to the invention. The hostAP0 (Host0) and the AP1 (Host1) are connected to a multiplexer 22,wherein an output end Y1 is connected to the device output end 16 fordriving an external USB device 31. Another output end Y0 is connected tothe data input ends D+ and D− of the HID chip 23, which is a switchcontrolling chip for receiving the nB0, nB1 of two switches B0 and B1and the orders from the data input ends D+, D− of the PC side. Throughcontrolling the “2 to 1” multiplexer 22 (2-MUX) by the SEL side, aswitching action is executed, and the control chip 23 itself is a USBdevice too.

The USB busyness detection circuit 24 is responsible for checkingwhether the signals D+ and D− of the USB signal line 223 of the externalUSB device have already been changed or not, which will be based fordeciding whether the external USB device is busy or not. If no change isdetected, then the output end of the busyness detection circuit 24outputs “1”. If a change is detected (it is busy), then the busynessdetection circuit 24 outputs “0”. When the control chip 23 finds thebusyness state detection end—nBUSY1 equaling to “0”, then any switchingaction is prohibited.

When nBUSY1 equals to “1” (it means very busy) and the switch B0 ispushed down (nB0 equals to “0”), the host makes a switching orderthrough the control chip 23 together with the signals induced from thedata input ends D+ and D- to make the SEL side equal to “1”. At thistime, the multiplexer 22 makes AP0 (Host0) connected to the external USBdevice 31 and also makes AP1 (Host1) connected to the control chip 23.With same reason, if nBUSY equals to “1” and another switch B1 (nB1equals “0”) is pushed down, then the switching action executed by thecontrol chip 23 will make SEL side equal to “0” and the AP1 (Host1) willbe connected to the external USB device, while AP0 (Host0) will beconnected to the control chip 23. However, above relationship can besummarized as following: when the interruption signals nB1 equals to“1”, nB0 equals to “0”, and nBUSY1 equals to “1”, then the result willbe SEL equaling to “1” and, when nB1 equals to “0”, nB0 equals to “1”,and nBUSY1 equals to “1”, then the result will be SEL equalling to “0”.

For above switches B0 and B 1, the interruption signals can be triggeredon to make nB0 equal to “0” when the host AP0 makes an switching orderat a normal setting procedure and, at this time, nB0 equals to “0” andnB1 equals to “1”. When the host AP1 makes a switching order, then thenB0 equals “1” and the nB1 equals to “0”, both which will be taken asswitching signal source, and both nB0 and nB1 are not equal to “1” atthe same time. After the switching order sets a predetermined timeperiod, the nB0 and nB1 are restored automatically back to “1” forwaiting next triggering-on interruption signal.

For a computer side at initial state, if the host side AP1 (Host1) isconnected to the external USB device 31, the AP0 (Host0) is connected tothe control chip 23 and, at this time, the host side is executing aprogram corresponding to the control chip 23 and the program then makesa switching order to the control chip and, after the control chip 23receives the order, it is too busy to execute the switching action, thenthe SEL side will be inverted to make the AP0 (Host0) connected to theexternal USB device and the AP1 (Host1) connected to the control chip23.

Please refer to FIG. 4, which is an illustration for the relationshipbetween the above SEL side and the multiplexer 22. When SEL equals to“0”, the end points X0, Y0 are passing path and the end points X1, Y1are passing path but, when SEL equals to “1”, the end points X0, Y1 arepassing path and the end points X1, Y0 are passing path. Wherein, the X0side is connected to the host AP0 and the X1 side is connected to thehost AP1.

The operation of above HID chip 23 is acted as a switch, which controlsthe open and close of two hosts, and of which driving program has anapplication software corresponding to the HID switch control chip 23.This software supplies an interface to tell a user about current statefor making a switching order. Please refer to FIG. 5, which is a flowchart for controlling the software. After initialization, the HID isunder a waiting state. When the host makes a switching order, the HIDactuates an ordering state 41 for ensuring that the switching order 42output to device has been received. Through the signal transferred fromthe comparative line path module 24, a judgement checking whether thedevice is busy 43 is ensured. If the device is busy, then a busy signalis sent out 44 without switching and, if the device is idle, then theswitching process is executed 45.

Please refer to FIG. 6, which is a connection illustration for the linepaths of a “4 to 1” sharer according to the invention (in this figure, abusy state is assumed; that is, nBUSY1 equals to “1”, and the part ofthe USB busyness detection circuit is skipped), wherein three sets of “2to 1” sharer comprise a “4 to 1” sharer, and the hosts AP0, AP1 and thehosts AP2, AP3 are a pair of “2 to 1” sharer 51, 52 respectively, ofwhich the device output ends 511, 520 are taken as the input ends ofanother “2 to 1” sharer 53. Wherein, the nBC side outputs a switchingsignal and is connected to the next level and, when the control chip isexecuting a switching action, a “nBC=0” is output, otherwise “nBC=1”.

For a host AP3 being in an initial state and connecting to an externalUSB device (SEL is all equal to “0” for any initial state), when thehost AP2 makes a switching order, its switching signal through theconnection line 521 reaches the data input ends D+ and D−, and the nB0of the sharer 52 is equal to “0”. At this time, the SEL side equals to“1”, and the multiplexer 22 b is switched to make the host AP2 connectedto the output end of the sharer 52. At mean time, because of theswitching action of the sharer 52, the output of the nBC side of thecontrol chip 23 b equals to “1” and, through the line path 522, the nB1of the sharer 53 equals to “1”. Since there is no switching action forthe sharer 51, so the nBC equals to “1”, even when the nB0 of the sharer53 equals to “1”. At this time, for the sharer 53, the SEL equals to“0”, and the result is that the sharer 53 does not execute the switchingaction. At last, the AP2 through the device output end 16 is connectedto the external USB device 61.

The above examples are the working principles and the structures of thesystem's line paths for the “2 to 1” and the “4 to 1” sharers. Theoutput ends of the two sets of “2 to 1” structure are connected toanother “2 to 1” sharer, the result is that a “4 to 1” sharer isconstructed. With the same manner, if the output ends of the two sets of“4 to 1” structure are connected to one “2 to 1” sharer, then a “8 to 1”sharer may be constructed easily. The “any number to one” sharer can beconstructed according to this method. For a “2 to 1” sharer, only one “2to I” sharer is needed for the switcher for two sets of hosts versus oneUSB device. For a “4 to 1” sharer, three “2 to 1” sharers are needed forconstructing the switcher for four sets of hosts versus one USB device.Similarly, for a “8 to 1” sharer, only seven “2 to 1” sharers aresufficient for eight hosts. That is, for a sharer being applied to the Nhosts versus one USB device, only N−1 sets of “2 to 1” sharers areneeded for achieving the purpose of constructing a “N to 1” sharer.

Additionally, in order to make the application of the “N to 1” sharer bemore friendly, the condition of the on line of the host may be displayedin each host, such as three colors of red, yellow, and green may berepresented three states of on line. When the red light is displayed onthe screen of the host, it represents that the host is off line andother host is using a USB device; that is, the sharer is busy and thishost can not switch the sharer. When the yellow light is displayed onthe screen of the host, it means that this host is not in an on linestate and no any other host is using the USB device; that is, the shareris idle and, at this time, this host may switch and use the external USBdevice of the sharer and, after switching, this host is at the on linestate, then the green light is displayed on the screen of the host.

Please refer to FIG. 7, of which the busyness detection circuit 24 is aamplifier IC70, of which the input side AD1+ receives the D+ signalwithin the system and magnifies the signal of 3.3 volt into the signalof 5 volt, then the magnified signal is output from the output side OUT1to the input side B of the D type flip-flop 71 of the D-type, so asignal of square wave is output from the ACTION side and is taken as thebusyness detection signal of the invention.

For executing above preferable embodiments according to the invention,it is unnecessary to use any HUB IC, so the price is lower and, sincethe standardized human interface device (HID) chip has replaced theuniversal serial bus (USB) control chip, so an effectiveness of easycontrol and user friendliness is reached. At mean time, since its costis further lowered down and the effectiveness is excellent, so it isreally an innovative and progressive invention and is indeed fulfilledthe merits of patent application law. However, one thing is needed toclaim: all the embodiments proposed by the invention are not therestrictions for this invention, and the same principles, methods, orother equivalent variations according to the invention are also coveredwithin the range claimed by the present invention.

1-10. (canceled)
 11. A ┌computer accessory device-USB sharer┘ achieves a“4 to 1” sharer with two sets of “2 to 1” sharer and another “2 to 1”sharer, wherein the output side of the two sets of “2 to 1” sharer isthe input side of another “2 to 1” sharer, and an output side of another“2 to 1” sharer is connected to the device output side.
 12. The┌computer accessory device-USB sharer┘ according to claim 11, whereinthe “2 to 1” sharer is comprised of: a multiplexer, a human interfacedevice chip, a device output side, and a busyness detection circuit,which is connected to the middle of the human interface device chip andthe device output side.
 13. The ┌computer accessory device-USB sharer┘according to claim 11, wherein the human interface device (HID) chipmakes a switching order to the multiplexer to execute the switchingorder for the host.
 14. The ┌computer accessory device-USB sharer┘according to claim 11, wherein, when the busyness detection circuitdetects a busy state, the busy signal through the human interface devicechip is transferred to the host and is displayed on the screen to show abusy state.
 15. The ┌computer accessory device-USB sharer┘ according toclaim 11, wherein, when the busyness detection circuit detects an idlestate, the switching order through the human interface device chip ismade to the multiplexer for executing a switching action. 16-20.(canceled)